Updated 2026-06-03

IELTS vocabulary by topic

535 hand-curated words across 17 topic and function pages. Each word comes with a plain-English definition, an IELTS-style example sentence, common collocations, and an optional band-7+ synonym so you can vary your lexis without losing accuracy.

How to use this directory

Pick the topic pages most likely to appear on your test (Work, Education, Environment, and Technology are the four highest- frequency IELTS prompts in 2026). Spend more time on the function pages (Linking Words, Collocations) than on any single topic page — those skills transfer across every prompt and account for a quarter of your Writing and Speaking bands. Quality of recall beats raw memorisation: aim to make ten to fifteen words from each chosen topic active rather than all 30.

By IELTS Speaking & Writing topic(13)

Topic-themed pages aligned to the prompts that appear most often in IELTS Speaking Part 1, Part 3, and Writing Task 2. Each page gives you the 30 highest-value words for that prompt cluster.

Crime & Justice

30 words · 2 IELTS sections

Speaking Part 3Writing Task 2

Sample: offender, deterrent, rehabilitation …

Education & Learning

30 words · 4 IELTS sections

Speaking Part 1Speaking Part 3Writing Task 2

Sample: curriculum, tutorial, lecture …

Environment & Climate Change

30 words · 2 IELTS sections

Speaking Part 3Writing Task 2

Sample: climate change, global warming, greenhouse gas …

Family & Society

30 words · 3 IELTS sections

Speaking Part 1Speaking Part 3Writing Task 2

Sample: nuclear family, extended family, generation gap …

Food & Diet

30 words · 3 IELTS sections

Speaking Part 1Speaking Part 3Writing Task 2

Sample: cuisine, ingredient, nutritional value …

Globalisation

30 words · 2 IELTS sections

Writing Task 2Speaking Part 3

Sample: globalisation, multinational corporation, free trade …

Government & Politics

30 words · 2 IELTS sections

Writing Task 2Speaking Part 3

Sample: democracy, legislation, policy …

Health & Lifestyle

30 words · 3 IELTS sections

Speaking Part 1Speaking Part 3Writing Task 2

Sample: sedentary lifestyle, balanced diet, junk food …

Media & Advertising

30 words · 2 IELTS sections

Speaking Part 3Writing Task 2

Sample: mass media, social media, advertising campaign …

Money & Finance

30 words · 2 IELTS sections

Speaking Part 3Writing Task 2

Sample: savings, budget, debt …

Technology & Internet

30 words · 3 IELTS sections

Speaking Part 1Speaking Part 3Writing Task 2

Sample: digital divide, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence …

Travel & Tourism

30 words · 3 IELTS sections

Speaking Part 1Speaking Part 2Speaking Part 3

Sample: itinerary, accommodation, sightseeing …

Work & Careers

30 words · 3 IELTS sections

Speaking Part 1Speaking Part 3Writing Task 2

Sample: workforce, career path, promotion …

By writing & speaking function(4)

Function-themed pages organised by the role a word plays in your answer (linking ideas, raising lexical range), not by topic. Use these alongside the topic pages above.